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Employees at DHL in Switzerland are in dispute with the company over its refusal to consult their union representatives on plans to put some 86 employees out of work.



DHL management has refused every request from Geneva and Basel-based employees for negotiations with social partners over redundancies; it has been reported that the company has instead offered bonus payments to individual workers. It is understood that the proposed accounts department redundancies make way for the employment of fixed-term contract workers at the end of February next year; the jobs are eventually to be relocated to Germany.



The workers represented by the the UNI affiliated communication workers’ union Gerwerkschaft Kommunikation and the ITF-affiliated Swiss union Unia have issued the company with a strike notice.



Meanwhile, the Grand Council of Geneva, the canton authority, has urged the municipal authority to intervene in the case, following lobbying by the employees and their unions. It, in turn, contacted DHL management, calling on it to consider ways of maintaining operations at the Geneva site and to enter into talks with the workers’ representatives. The Gewerkschaft Kommunikation has also today called for intervention from the Swiss conciliation commission. 



In addition, the European Works Council Forum at Deutsche Post/DHL (DPDHL) in Germany issued a message of solidarity with the workers. In the message, Elmar Kallfelz, chairperson of the EWCF, said: “The European Works Council Forum (EWCF) of Deutsche Post DHL declares its solidarity with the 86 Swiss colleagues from the accounts department who are affected by the relocation of jobs to Germany, and with their unions, UNIA and Gewerkschaft Kommunikation ... .”



He also said: “We expect DPDHL management to provide the best possible support and a good social package in agreement with the two responsible unions.”